Immigration police at land border crossings have now stopped giving entry stamps to foreigners who exit and immediately return to Thailand to extend their stay for 15-30 days on visa runs.

"The order is not new. Originally, officers were authorised to consider giving permits. But in this current situation of heightened security, all officers have to step up restrictions," said an official at the Immigration Bureau.

Thanks for the link JF. The most annoying confusion in articles such as this seems to be between 15-30 day exemption visas and those with multi entry tourist or "O" visas. News (such as the BP article) often seem to imply that they are both "visa runs" and, as such, have both been stopped. I do not believe that this is the case as a border run with a multi-entry visa should not be a problem, where a border run for another 30 day exemption stamp may well be. The latter has always been officially frowned upon by the authorities and has been officially restricted to 90 days in any one year for some time - even if these rules do not seem to be uniformly applied.

I must admit that I am surprised that so many people still seem to be making do with 30 days stamps when it is not very difficult to get a tourist visa in most neighbouring countries. Of course, it does not help when laws are applied inconsistently and are constantly being knee-jerk changed as this gives rise to rumours and opportunists, but I guess that this no longer just applies to Thailand (I'm looking at you Europe!).